When comparing Raspberry Pi Zero + Wi-Fi dongle vs CHIP, the Slant community recommends CHIP for most people. In the question“What are the best single-board computers with Wi-Fi support under $10?”CHIP is ranked 1st while Raspberry Pi Zero + Wi-Fi dongle is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose CHIP is:

With 1 GHz ARMv7 CPU, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage CHIP is capable of running LibreOffice suite of applications for office work, Audacity digital audio workstation for audio editing, CAD for drawing diagrams and playing a wide array of games.

Pro

Good performance for the price

Pro

Supports the Raspberry Pi Foundation

Pro

Great performance for price

With 1 GHz ARMv7 CPU, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage CHIP is capable of running LibreOffice suite of applications for office work, Audacity digital audio workstation for audio editing, CAD for drawing diagrams and playing a wide array of games.

Pro

The basics (wifi, BLE, charging) are already integrated

No more having to separately buy and plug in wifi dongles, usb keyboards, etc.

Pro

Open Source schematics

Pro

Ready to be used out of the box

CHIP comes pre-installed with a variety of applications.

Pro

Can be made portable

You can use a Lithium Polymer battery to power the device and it has charging circuitry for charging the battery.

Pro

Teaches programming

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Cons

Con

No onboard stoarge

The device has a microSD slot and needs a card to act as storage.

Con

Wi-Fi dongle takes up the only peripheral USB port

Pi Zero has 2 USB ports - one for peripherals, the other one for power. Since getting Wi-Fi on the Pi Zero requires a USB dongle that takes up the only peripheral USB port, a USB hub might be needed to attach keyboard and mouse.

Con

Not available anymore

Con

Young community

The first CHIP computers shipped December 23rd, and while there's lots of traction it will take some time for a bustling community to develop around the devices.

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